At Kingdom Come
by Obsidian Buterfly
Summary: Things go horribly wrong when the Guardians at the Library in Rekourt cast a spell that interferes with Mokona's Dimension hop and the gang ends up in a world that may not be as pleasant as it may appear at first glance. Tartaros is not a place one would wish upon even their worst enemies so what are these five to do when they find themselves stuck on that world with no way off? AU
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: In the spirit of Halloween I decided to try out my hand at horror one more time. I must say I'm rather surprised by the outcome if I do say so myself. ^_^; Before I can let you go ahead and read this story however, know that this is rated an M for a big reason guys. There will lots of blood and gore and monsters and according to my beta, you should not read this story while eating. Oh and there will be cannibalism involved because the plot was inspired by a Firefly fanfiction called 'Assimilation' by 'babies-stole-my-dingo'. (If you are familiar with the fandom and enjoy tragedy mixed with gore and angst, you might want to give it a look.)_**

**_I must repeat that this story is not for the fainthearted so if you have any problems with graphic descriptions of gore, blood, cannibalism or monsters, turn back now and find something else to read. But! If you think you are brave enough, then by all means, go ahead and enjoy the ride._**

In my field of paper flowers  
And candy clouds of lullaby  
I lie inside myself for hours  
And watch my purple sky fly over me

'Imaginary' by Evanescence.

The world they had landed in was a relatively peaceful one, with a clear blue sky, a bright golden sun and vast grassy plains as far as their eyes could see, covered in an endless array of wild flowers, lush green trees standing proudly a little to their right, with a dirt-packed path winding across the land to their left. Despite the content atmosphere that surrounded them, Kurogane could not help but frown at the mage-the blond doing a wonderful job of ignoring him altogether in favor of gushing over what a wonderful world they seemed to have landed in, with the manju bun joining in cheerfully. The ninja shifted the unconscious princess in his arms, his gaze travelling to the brunette who was taking their surroundings in with a tiny smile of his own, though the boy did look worriedly in the direction of the princess not a moment later.

"She's fine." He said, hoping the kid would wipe that look of hopeless longing from his face. He felt sorry for the brunette. He was a good kid and he certainly didn't deserve all the pain he was going through for the sake of someone the witch had ensured he would not be able to have.

"Fai used magic. Didn't Fai say he could not use magic without the tattoo?" he heard the manju say as it hopped across to the blonde's shoulder. A gust of wind ruffled their clothes as a hint of something metallic struck Kurogane's nose, distracting him just a little from the magician's response.

"It's not quite the same as the type of magic I'm accustomed to using."

"But magic is magic." The dimension hopper pointed out, stealing the words right from Kurogane's mouth a second before the warrior said them. He let it slide; trying to figure out just what it was that was so odd about the metallic scent. It just didn't sit right with Kurogane and he couldn't place his finger on what it was yet, but it was there, niggling like a persistent itch in the back of his mind.

"Looks like there is a town a short way away from here," the kid said as he knelt next to a black rock with strange marks carved into it- a milestone in this world perhaps? "We should probably look for a place to stay over there."

"Syaoran-kun did a great job back at the library, retrieving the feather the way he did." The blond smiled as he walked over to the kid, patting him gently on the head though Kurogane caught a flash of worry in his blue-eyed gaze. The kid nodded back at the older man with a tiny smile of his own.

It was right after they had set off on a steady trot towards the town the brunette had indicated they should go to that Kurogane noticed something else about the place that set him on edge. There was no sound. He had grown up around places like this, and the lands around Suwa and Nihon had always been filled with the melodious chirping of birds, the chattering of squirrels and other rodents, but this place… it was silent as death.

-0-

Fai tried not to let the discomfort show on his face as they trudged on towards the town. This place was beautiful and peaceful and it was a pity the princess was still asleep since she would have loved to see that meadow. Of course he had noticed the distinct lack of any signs of wildlife only a couple of minutes after they had arrived, but he tried not to panic just yet. The Library Guardians had fired a spell at them just as they had been whisked away by Mokona. He had not felt it connect, so there was no way the furry creature could have taken them some place horrible. Maybe it was just the magic that was actively humming beneath his skin, eager to be called to use again, that was causing him to be so nervous in a place this harmless.

It had been a stupid move on his part to use his magic in the first place, but what was done was done. He could not take any of it back and they were all fine. They were safe. And Syaoran- even if he was losing his heart quicker than Fai had estimated- there was still a chance Fai might be able to do something to help him. There was no need for him to be skittish. After all, if he let on too much, Kurogane would be able to pick apart his cracking shield much quicker than Fai would be able to put it back together again and he did not want that.

No. For now, it would be best to pretend nothing was wrong and see how things panned out from there.

-0-

Syaoran wondered what Sakura might say when she woke up. What memory did she regain this time? From the bench and the hourglass and the ruins he had seen in that place, this feather probably contained a memory of one of those wonderful afternoons they had spent together at the excavation site, the princess bringing him lunch while trying to keep their meetings a secret from her brother at the same time.

He was a little worried about what had happened back in the library. He couldn't quite recall how he had retrieved the feather, even though Fai claimed he had done a spectacular job. He had felt the adrenalin pumping through his blood as he had clutched the feather in his hand, its soft texture comforting against his calloused fingers, the soft presence that was just so…_Sakura_ thrumming in the palm of his hand, making him want to selfishly hold on to the memory forever, if only to keep some part of Sakura with him. But then he had dutifully returned it to the princess, knowing full well that no matter what happened, his presence was forever removed from her past.

Mokona was happily bouncing along the road, singing a silly little song that seemed to irritate Kurogane to no end as they reached the outskirts of town, their tiny group pausing at the entrance and taking in the sight before them, all cheerfulness and laughter vanishing from their midst completely as they saw the neat little streets and the picturesque little cottages with their pretty little back gardens and chimneys. The reason for their silence, however, was the fact that the place-despite its picture-perfect look- was abandoned completely. No smoke rose from the stone chimneys, no sound of children's laughter could be heard over the stillness that had settled over the village. There was not a single soul in sight.

"Something is not right here." Kurogane growled, subconsciously reaching for a sword that was no longer strapped to his hip as they entered. "Stay on your guard."

"Maybe we can find some record of what happened at the library in this village, or whatever is equivalent to it here." He said. "Although, I'm not sure if such a concept exists in this world."

"Villages like these normally have a record office of some sort at the leader's house, don't they, Syaoran-kun?" Fai asked.

"Mokona does not like it here anymore." The little dimension hopper whined as it snuggled under Fai's coat.

"Is there a feather here, though?" he asked, directing the question at the tiny dimension hopper as they finally entered the town.

"Mokona can't tell."

"What do you mean you can't tell, meat bun?" Kurogane grunted as he picked the magical creature up by its rabbit-like ears.

"Magic feels funny." The white creature replied, "Fai can feel it too, right?"

"This world might not be as harmless as it first appeared." The blond nodded with a frown, his blue eyes flashing for a fraction of second, making Syaoran wonder if that was where Fai drew his magic from. He had definitely seen them glow when Fai had cast that spell that allowed Mokona to take them away from Rekourt. "We should all stick together."

"It's not just the people that are missing." Kurogane frowned, "Even with all the flowers and plants, there are no animals around."

-0-

As soon as night fell, the very air around them shifted into something sinister. It was like being dumped into the middle of a pit full of venomous snakes, all hissing and itching to sink fangs into their skins. Kurogane watched as the mage paced around the room they had all agreed to spend the night in. The princess was asleep on a cot with the covers drawn over her still form while the manju cuddled her cheek, the kid reading from what appeared to be a leather-bound journal with rapt attention on a chair next to her, Kurogane having taken up station near the window. The world outside was dark, not a single star in sight and no moon up in the sky to bathe the world in its silver glow. It was as though a giant hand covered the town they were in, cutting them off from the outside world almost completely.

Every now and then his gaze would flitter to the kid, the brunette worrying his lip as he tried to decipher the language in which the journal was written. Apparently, the boy knew a similar language, but some of the words in this one were ones he had never heard of before. Heaving a sigh, the boy put the book down for a second, rubbing his eyes tiredly with one hand before resuming his translation of the text, a look of alarm flashing across his weary features as he flipped back a couple of pages and reread a passage there.

"What is it?" he asked, noticing the way the color seemed to drain from the kid's face as he stared at the words written in the book.

"I know what happened to this world's inhabitants." was all the boy said breathlessly, eyes wide as he finally looked up to meet his inquisitive gaze.

-0-

According to the journal, this world was called Serenity. The kid had deciphered it to be a record of events that had happened there prior to something that was continually referred to as the _Akhirat_, an apocalypse of some sort that wiped out half the population, the rest of them going mad before slowly dying. The entries in the journal had grown more and more rushed and frantic, according to the kid, losing their original coherency as they went on until at one point it was nothing but a jumble of nonsensical words with just two actual words in all the gibberish.

'Magic' and 'blood'.

The mage had paled, turning white as a sheet upon learning the name of the world, though he plastered on a big smile the very next instant. Kurogane could not help but narrow his eyes at the blond, who pretended to ignore the ninja altogether.

"What is it?" Kurogane growled because for almost a second it appeared as though the man was _scared_. Truly, utterly terrified. As though he had just realized whoever it was he was running from was right outside the door and about to burst inside. The magician definitely knew something about this world that they were in, for him to have such a remarkable reaction to it.

"Mokona," the blond launched himself on the meatbun, completely ignoring Kurogane and the kid as he began shaking the fuzzy little creature into wakefulness, "you need to get us out of here, _now!"_

"Oi, what's wrong?" he said a little louder at the same time as the fuzzy little thing asked, "What about Sakura's feather?"

"There is no feather in this world. We need to leave."Sensing the urgency in the magician's tone, the meat bun nodded, sprouting its wings and whisking them away.

Or at least, it tried to. It gave a tiny yelp as something dark and ominous crackled in the air all around it and seemed to shock the little thing into stopping its magic. It fell into the magician's outstretched hands with a tiny cry.

Impossibly, the blond paled a little more, his gaze hurriedly flitting towards the sleeping princess and the wary-looking kid before he took a deep breath and raised his fingers in the air, blue light dancing at its tips as his eyes began almost to glow. The magic that sprang forth was a dazzling sort of blue, streams upon streams of runes that shot through the air like arrows, latching on to the four of them as a new string of spells began twirling in the air around them. The mage was frowning and Kurogane could almost see a trickle of blood flow down from the blonde's nostril, menacing dark tendrils and claws of energy trying to cut through the ribbons of spells to reach their source. The blond fought back, gritting his teeth and summoning magic so strong Kurogane could only stare in awe at the display of immense power. There was no way in hell this guy was not strong enough to jump through dimensions on his own. This power spewing from him now- it was ten times the power that hung about his princess, and Tomoyo was one of the strongest mikos in all of Nihon.

And yet, when smoky wisps of inter-dimensional magic had almost begun to pull them away from there, the claws of darkness cut through the ribbons, crashing into the mage, sending him flying across the length of the room with a startled cry. Blood was steadily flowing from his nose as he climbed to his feet, chest heaving with the effort to breathe as he met Kurogane's eyes, looking absolutely terrified.

"Will you just tell me what the heck has gotten you so fucking terrified that you look ready to wet yourself?" he growled in frustration, taking a menacing step towards the magician who staggered towards them, the kid already rushing forward to support the blond.

"The people of this world, they all died." He replied in nearly a whisper, wiping the blood away with the back of his hand as he welcomed the kid's support not even pretending to hide his weakness. "Every single one of them was taken by a mysterious disease. Even the owner of that journal Syaoran-kun found."

"What are you getting at?" Kurogane grunted, shifting a little uneasily on his feet as a breeze blew in through the open window, carrying with it that odd, metallic scent that he still couldn't quite place.

"Everyone _died_, Kurogane," the mage repeated, shocking the ninja with the sudden use of his full name. "But there are no remains."

"So? Wild animals dragged the bodies off or something." He tried to dismiss it, trying not to let it show how unnerved he already was.

"You said so yourself." The mage insisted, "There are no animals here."

"Get to the point already." He was itching for Souhi, but it was stored inside the meatbun. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to get the little thing to give it to him now, at least for as long as they were in this world.

"The Library Guardians interfered with Mokona's spell before we escaped," the blond said, settling heavily into the chair only a foot away from where Kurogane was, "They banished us to a world that is known throughout the magical worlds as _Tartaros."_

"Fai-san, what are you trying to say?"

"We're trapped in hell!" the blond snapped suddenly, "This world is the physical embodiment of hell and there is no way out!"

"How can there be no way out?" the ninja argued, "We got in, didn't we?"

"We got _banished _here, Kurogane! As in 'forced against our will'." The magician growled. The use of his full name for a second time did not go unregistered with the ninja. "The magic in Tartaros is alive, and it won't let us leave. You saw what happened to Mokona and me when we tried to get us out."

"Fai-san, do you know what happened to the people of this world?" the kid asked quietly.

"They all died." The princess spoke up before anyone else could answer, her voice a whisper, her eyes blank as if in a trance as she stared at something none of them could see. "That little girl was killed by her own mother. And her mother by her husband. And her husband was- I can feel them. Thousands and thousands of souls condemned to an eternity of suffering. They're screaming and pleading but there is no one to help them. No one to hear them. No one to free them." A shudder raced down Kurogane's spine as he took in the blank look she sported and the hollow way her voice seemed to echo all around them. And then she blinked, coming out of whatever trance she had gone into as she looked at them all with teary eyes. "There's so much blood, Syaoran-kun."She whimpered.

"It's okay, princess," the boy murmured as he left the magician's side and hesitantly gathered the princess in his arms.

"Mage, you know what this place is. Care to elaborate a little further?"

"_Even in death their souls shall not rest. For all eternity, torment and insanity shall be their fate. Monsters in their own skin, they shall crave the blood of their kin." _The mage murmured, sinking deeper into his chair, appearing for all intents and purposes to have completely given up. The little verse that he had just recited caused goose bumps to rise all over the ninja's skin. "The people of this land were magicians who offended a powerful deity. This was the curse set upon their entire world as punishment. This world, Serenity, became known as Tartaros not long after that throughout the magical realms because it's a _literal _embodiment of hell."

"Manju," Kurogane growled, fingers itching to feel the cool metal of his sword's hilt even as he spoke, "gimme my sword." The thing about monsters craving blood did not appeal to the warrior in the least.

"It's no use," the blond shook his head dejectedly, "Using magic will attract them to us faster. We're as good as dead no matter what we do. There's no way off of Tartaros, and there is no escaping the _furia_."

The princess whimpered as she buried her face in the kid's shirt, the kid himself-surprisingly enough- glaring at the blond as he tightened his grip on the girl.

"What the heck are _furia?_"The warrior questioned.

"Creatures that inhabit Tartaros." The magician replied in that same listless manner, "They were human once, but now I wouldn't wish an encounter with them even on my worst enemies." He paused for a second or two, looking a little guiltily at the kids before he shook his head and turned away. "They're immortal, in a manner of speaking, so they can't be killed. They're the worst kind of monsters, and whoever comes across them…" he shuddered visibly, surprising Kurogane greatly. The mage was never one to let his emotions surface in this manner yet here in this world, the man was almost like different person altogether, "The lucky ones don't live for long. The unlucky ones… well they can't even wish they were dead once the _furia_ are through. They are-"

"That's enough, Mage!"Kurogane hollered, heaving the blond to his feet using the collar of his shirt, "you're scaring the kids." And sure enough, the princess was crying, the kid looking a little green in the face though he tried to stay strong for the sake of his most precious person.

"_Furia_ sound like the oni back in Nihon," he added with a scoff, "I've dealt with entire hordes of them on my own. I'm sure I can take these bastards out too. Stay with the kids and keep them safe if you're too scared to fight them. _I'll _deal with these monsters."

"You can't kill them…" The magician warned with a weak, semi-hysterical chuckle as another gust of wind- stronger this time- blew in through the open window and caused them all to glance outside a little uneasily.

"The hell I can't." He growled dangerously.

"Can't kill what's already dead." Surprisingly enough, it was the princess who said that.

"Well, I won't be going down without a fight." Kurogane declared stubbornly.

The wind suddenly stopped blowing, the world growing as still as death, the only sound being that of their own rapid breathing and the princess giving another whimper as she curled up even tighter by the kid's side.

"I can hear them." She murmured, her fingers digging rather painfully into the kid's arm, "I can hear them. They're all screaming, Syaoran-kun. They keep screaming and they won't stop. They just won't stop." The little manju bun cuddled her cheek, trying to comfort the girl in its own away as it spat out Souhi and Hein before mournfully declaring that it could not reach the witch.

"Stop using magic." The blond repeated, not even putting any effort in his words as he said that, "it only attracts more of them. They can't be killed and this world is locked in on itself, so there's no escape."

"We might actually have a chance if you stop your blabbering and actually _do_ something for a change! Watch the kids while I scout outside." He ordered, slipping out the window without waiting for the blonde's response. Despite his panicking and suddenly hopeless behavior, Kurogane knew that the mage would die before letting anything happen to the kids. He had seen him do just that in Outo with the kid's teacher, after all, letting the man kill him instead of revealing where the kid was. As the ninja stalked to the roof, he finally caught sight of the true extent of the _furia_ headed their way. An endless sea of glowing red eyes was all that he could see as far as he looked. Kurogane had faced hordes of oni on his own before, but this was just…a little overwhelming, even for him. Not ready to give up and curl up in a corner in fear, though, he flung his body back inside, hoping his face did not betray what some part of him already knew to be the case.

Maybe the mage was right. The meat bun had no way of getting them out, and even though it had gotten the idiot to try and use his magic again, that was of no use either. They were trapped in this world that the mage probably knew a lot more about than he was letting them know. Not that he seemed inclined to hide anything from them in the first place. No, the blond had all but already given up. And that was something that did not sit right with him. He was a proud warrior of Nihon. Even if the situation seemed impossible, he refused not to fight back with all that he had. If he was going down-because the situation did seem rather hopeless-he would be dragging these immortal bastards down with him.

"Pull yourself together." He glowered at the mage, who had not moved at all from his spot on the chair where Kurogane had dropped him, the blood, having dried on his face, along with the sickly pallor of his skin made him look like nothing less than a monster himself. Something demented and sick, brought back from the dead to haunt the living for the rest of eternity. "If not for yourself, at least do something for the kids. Or are you going to condemn to die at the hands of these things?" he knew the kids were sitting right _there_ and it was not the best of ideas to mention their impending death in such an offhanded manner, but what else could he do? He was not ashamed to admit that he would need all the help he could get. Staying inside the building would give them the advantage, at least in the number of opponents they would have to take down at a time.

The magician glanced in the direction of the princess's tear-stained face-when had she begun to cry?- and the kid's scared but determined scowl as he clutched on to the sword in his hand before looking away with a tiny shake of his head.

"I'm sorry, Kurogane…" the blond whispered, making the ninja see red. His body moving of its own accord, he launched himself at the pathetic coward that sat before them all, slugging him over the head not once but twice in quick succession.

"Pull yourself together, you damn bastard!" he ground through his teeth, glaring at the mage as he looked up at him with a hurt expression. "Drop the theatrics and at least try to pretend you give a damn about those two."

Something seemed to flash across the mage's eyes as he grit his teeth and seemed to steel himself for a moment before nodding and clambering to his feet. He stood up a little straighter as he began moving around the room, fingers dancing through the air as blue streams of runes began flickering into existence, shooting around the room, pushing away the darkened claws that tried to reach out for the man as he began to speak.

"_Furia_ are attracted to magic. The more magic someone possesses, the more they will try to go after that person." He said, pausing for a second as he glanced at the kids before continuing with his spell-casting, "Fighting at close range is impossible. If we want to have even a shred of a chance against them, we need to keep them as far away from us as possible."

If Kurogane looked closely enough, he could see a shimmering blue shield covering the window he had been leaning against, a similar-looking construct appearing at the doorway and reinforcing the walls. Was the mage putting up barriers? But hadn't he just said magic attracted more of these things?

"These creatures can't be killed," the blond continued, unaware of or seemingly ignoring the puzzled frown marking Kurogane's face, "because as Sakura-chan pointed out, they are already dead. But they can be slowed down. Cut them down and they will need time to regenerate. Bash in their heads and they will take even longer to get back up. Swords might work if one of them gets close, but our best bet would be taking them out at a distance."

"You know an awful lot about these things." The ninja finally said as he watched the man cast another layer of spells, ignoring the dark claws of energy that had latched onto his arms.

"More than I wanted to." came the response. "I've put up shields around the house to keep them out for as long as possible, though I'm afraid they won't hold out indefinitely so we will need to come up with some sort of plan. Swords will be useless unless the shields go down, so I can summon something similar to the guns we saw in Piffle."

Another gust of wind blew, bringing with it the metallic stench, causing Kurogane's stomach to knot as he realized that it smelled vaguely like blood, heavy with the putrid stench of decay. Kurogane narrowed his eyes as the mage began to shake when he cast the spell to summon the weapons, the dark claws drawing blood as they sunk into his flesh.

"The ammunition is limited," he said as he handed them the newly materialized weapons, ignoring the eyes boring holes into him as he showed the princess how to properly hold it, "Make the most of what you have, and try to make it count. Worse comes to worst, save your last bullets." Both the kids looked puzzled by this last instruction, but Kurogane immediately understood what the magician was getting at. It was like assassins carrying vials of poison with them in case of getting captured. Something like that was lost to the children who had not yet been exposed to the cruelties of the world, but for someone like him… he could only hope that they would never need to save those last bullets.

**_A/N: And this is where I will be leaving you all for today. I know I put up big scary warnings at the start yet there was nothing of that sort in here. Don't worry, next chapter is where the fun begins._**

**_Oh and in case someone is interested in knowing, the concept of Furia was derived from Reevers in Firefly. I did make a couple of nods to that fandom so cookies for whoever caught them. ;) Drop me a review and tell me what you think._**

**_~Obsidian_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: A big fat thank you to everyone who put this story on their alerts list or their favorites. I'm glad you liked the intro so much. Sorry for not replying to any of your reviews though. I'm gonna do that here since I'm too lazy to go do that in my browser window. ^_^;_**

**_Happy Ham: There will be plenty of action to make up for that in this one. ;) Furia is actually Greek for the Fury which are creatures from hell. In addition to that, Furie were goddesses of revenge. Tartaros is one of the levels of hell in the underworld where the wrongdoers are sent to by Hades in their afterlife to suffer for all of eternity. _**

**_Justice333: I'm gonna let you decide on the ending yourself because if I say anything, it might spoil stuff for when you get to reading it ^_^;_**

**_Okay so now that the replies are out of the way, I'm guessing that since you have stuck around till this point, you've got stomachs of steel. Or you might not be taking my warning to heart. Or you could actually be interested in Horror… *shrugs* oh well, just make sure you're not eating anything while you read this chapter. That is all for now so go ahead and enjoy the gore, horror and carnage. ;) ;)_**

Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming  
Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights  
Oh how I long for the deep sleep dreaming  
The goddess of imaginary light

'Imaginary' by Evanescence

Kurogane would have liked to say it wasn't as sudden as it was. That he was prepared for the eventuality. That it was bound to happen at some point, since the mage _had_ warned them. But to say that…would be a lie. There never was a chance for them to come up with a proper plan other than to hold out till sunrise which was when the furia were supposed to go back into hiding. One minute they were all cutting down the creatures with the magically-summoned weapons, and the next there were just far too many of them, pushing against the barriers with their greedy hands, trying to claw their way into the house to get to them. Kurogane was off at one side, firing blindly at the creatures who tried to get inside, while the kid and the princess were near the doorway, trying to keep the furia from entering that way while the mage and the manju bun were guarding the remaining window.

The only warning they had of the barrier breaking was the princess's shriek as the creatures swarmed inside, swallowing her tiny body up in their midst as the kid cried out her name and rushed into the fray, hacking away at the things with a blazing sword as he threw his former weapon to one side. The princess's screams betrayed nothing but pure agony as Kurogane fought off the creatures, trying to get to her. The kid and the mage were doing the same, but…there were just too many of them. Not giving up, though, he continued to cut through the monsters, hoping that-the princess shrieked her loudest cry yet and Kurogane caught sight of her pale, blood-drenched form in the midst of those writhing bodies.

She had been crying out their names in the beginning, but then her screams had risen in their intensity and lucid words stopped forming in her mouth. Kurogane could see occasional bursts of golden light around her-her magic coming to her defense even if she had no idea how to use it yet- but this only seemed to pull more of them towards her. He could hear the tearing and rending of flesh through her agonized wails and-oh Kami! They were eating her alive!

It was heart-wrenching, the way the boy was screaming for the girl as he struggled to cut through the throngs of monsters that surrounded him, his wrist breaking with a sickening crack somewhere during the fight, but he did not even seem to notice the jagged bone poking through his flesh as he punched and kicked and yelled and sliced through the furia_._ The brunette was moving like a man possessed and Kurogane, too, was trying to get closer to the princess before it was too late. He knew the mage would be doing the same, with the manju bun hidden somewhere in his clothes. The monsters were coming at them from all directions, eyes glowing red and teeth gleaming, skins painted a deep crimson with the blood of all their past kills.

The princess let out a scream so loud it nearly shattered his eardrums as Kurogane heard the unmistakable sound of bones breaking for the umpteenth time. _How _many bones were there to be broken, anyways? And how long would she be able to live in this condition? With the way her screams were lessening in intensity, not too long. It was evident by now that even if they somehow did manage to wrestle her from the _furia_, she might not make it because-Kami! There was so much blood and he could catch only glimpses of her brutalized body but he could guess that every second she spent alive was probably nothing but pure agony for her.

Not even knowing when he made the decision, the minute Kurogane caught sight of her blood-stained face, mouth open wide in an agonized howl, he raised the gun that had only one bullet remaining- just as the mage had told them- and fired. Immediately the piercing wail emerging from her throat ceased altogether as the swarm surrounding her seemed to swallow her up.

"SAKURAAA!" the kid screamed as he frantically cut through the monsters, not caring about the furia that latched onto his shoulder as he pressed on towards his princess, who-now that she was clearly dead-was finally being left alone by the monsters. The furia were moving towards their newer prey in her stead. The mangled corpse left in their wake was only identifiable as the sweet princess of the desert from her jade eyes-open wide and glassy in death as they seemed to stare almost right at Kurogane. The bullet hole right in the middle of her forehead was almost camouflaged by the blood coating the rest of her abused body.

The sound of the kid's shouts for the girl ceased almost completely as he froze at the sight of her, not even a whimper of pain escaping his lips as he was swallowed up in the middle of the monsters. With an animalistic howl, Kurogane tore through the masses of gnashing teeth and clawing hands as he struggled to reach the brunette in time. He would not lose another person he cared about in this hell. His head reeled from the white hot pain that shot down his arm and reverberated through the rest of his body as it was broken by a blow from the monsters he was fighting. Kurogane knew the kid was still alive, but why the fucking hell was he not even trying to fight back? He could still hear the horrible sounds of flesh being torn and bones being broken, but he never heard a single scream from the kid.

Suddenly the manju was crying out for the mage and it was all one big confusing mess because a loud crack echoed inside his skull as he crashed to the floor, a burning pain travelling all the way up his left leg. His knee was clearly broken and there were just too many of them for him to fight off as he too was enveloped in a cocoon of writhing bodies. He had no idea when he began to cry out in pain, trying to fight them off and failing spectacularly but every inch of him burning in agony as he felt the furia's sharp teeth sinking in deep everywhere. But then, as though being called off by some sort of invisible signal, they all cleared away, moving back from him and from the mage too. The meat bun was nothing but blood-stained fur by then, its tiny red jewel inches from Kurogane's face, one of its paws lying somewhere close to the shuddering, blood-covered mage, but that was all that remained of the tiny creature.

The kid lay on his back, eyes wide open and chest heaving in shaky gasps as blood bubbled from the gaping hole in his throat, a disturbing gurgling sound issuing from his throat as the brunette struggled to his side and through sheer force of will, began crawling towards the spot where the princess lay. The boy collapsed only a foot away from her, his hand outstretched towards the girl as he gave a final shudder and moved no more, clearly dead. Kurogane did not allow himself to feel the anything but rage at that, even as guilt and sadness threatened to consume him completely at the sight before him.

Before he could actually act on his feelings, though, a series of tiny clicks and sharp cries issued from the furia that were now pressed up against the walls, their red-eyed gazes locked towards the door almost reverently. He didn't have to wait for long to see why they had been given this respite, since a tall form soon swept into the room, dark hair almost brushing the ground as the creature glided across the floor, stopping before the mage's shuddering form. Its skin-in contrast to the others'-was paler than the moonlight, its face almost ethereal and enchanting in its unnatural beauty, eyes as dark as coals peering down at the shaking blond.

Both of the mage's arms were clearly broken and if the shivering was any indication, he was going into shock. The brown coat and pants that he had been wearing in Rekourt were now nothing more than ragged tatters, barely covering anything at all. His chest heaved laboriously as he struggled to climb to his feet and failed, in the end pushing himself away from this new being using his legs alone, his lips moving in a language Kurogane could no longer understand, his voice lighter than a breeze of air-though in the absolute silence that surrounded them following the maddening screeches of the creatures and the dying screams of his companions, it rang clear as day. Two words that Kurogane was sure he would be able to pick up even without the manju translating it for him.

"Ashura-ou."

The creature cocked its head to one side as though observing the blond for a moment before-with the smallest of gestures from his head-three furia were hurrying forward and securing the mage as the thing turned its attention towards Kurogane. Its unforgiving gaze lingered at his broken arm and leg for a fraction of a second, something like a hint of approval flashed across its inhuman features before, with another click, he too was being held in place by the furia.

Then, as though bringing cattle forth for slaughter, the things were dragging the blond to the place where the half-eaten bodies of the princess and the kid lay with their glassy-eyed stares and horrified expressions frozen in death. Right before his eyes, the mage was forced to kneel next to the kid. The man was shivering like a leaf, shaking his head repeatedly in denial, mouthing the same word over and over again but one of the furia was grabbing his head and forcing him to bend over the kid's unmoving chest and-the magician was screaming and struggling and trying to break free and the furia were relentlessly pushing his face on top of the kid and the mage was crying and begging from the sounds of it as Kurogane slowly came to the sick realization of what it was the furia intended for him to do.

Still, it was a bit of a relief to see the mage refuse to give in, even when they smashed his face against the kid's chest-hard enough to crack the former's nose-he did not open his mouth, his body involuntarily thrashing about at the lack of air until he was pulled back, face bloody and wet with tears that streamed down his cheeks in twin streaks that showed the pale flesh beneath all the crimson liquid.

"Leave him alone, you bastards!" he howled in raged, struggling to escape the grip of the furia- a task which was proving to be impossible even with his inhuman strength. The furia previously holding the blonde's head made an irritated series of clicks- clearly ordering the mage to do something, though the man refused to obey, shaking his head in denial until the creature's claw-like hands collided with his face and tore off a considerable amount of skin. The mage screamed at this sudden onslaught of pain, though he came to some realization soon enough because he was clamping his mouth shut even as the furia was shoving him back at the kid's chest. This seemed to go on for hours, each refusal resulting in a new wound for the blond, though after the first ten minutes, the man stopped screaming altogether. He was very much alive and still very much present in his mind, as was indicated by the way he kept on refusing to give in, but he never made another sound, never opened his mouth, never did anything except cry silently.

At least as long they kept on trying to make him eat the kid of his own accord. Slugging the mage on the head, the furia bent down over the kid and-and gouged out his left eye! Kurogane howled in rage, words turning to an incomprehensible jumble as he tried to reach the bastard with renewed vigor. He would rip out the fucker's arms and shove them down his own throat and gleefully watch as the immortal creature choked on it. The mage looked just about ready to scream, but he managed to keep it in check as his terrified gaze darted towards Kurogane for a brief moment as though wordlessly begging him to end his misery. But the ninja was just as helpless as the mage, unable to break free from the monsters' grip, forced to watch as the furia clutching the kid's fucking eye pinched the blonde's nose, the latter beginning to turn blue in the face as he refused to give in after a couple of minutes. But then the urge to breathe became too much as he drew in half a gasp before the eye was being thrust into his mouth-the magician's nose still covered as he thrashed about in the hold of his captors.

Angry snarls and screams mixed in with swearwords were echoing all around Kurogane and it took him a moment to realize that he was the source. Four heartbeats later, the furia were biting into the mage's body, the one that forced the kid's eye down his throat gleefully gnawing at the juncture of his shoulder and neck as the blond tried to regain his breath-a broken wail issuing from his mouth as he clamped his eyes shut. Nausea seemed to overwhelm Kurogane as he looked on in horror when the furia moved away, clawing another piece of flesh from his apprentice and forcing it into the magician's mouth.

The blond kept on shaking his head, repeating the same word over and over again, crying like a broken child, but as time seemed to go by, he appeared to give up as his struggles against the creatures holding him down ceased altogether. After an eternity of forcing Kurogane to watch his own companion swallow the flesh of someone he had considered to be something like a little brother, the furia stepped away from the blond with the crack of its mouth twisting in an imitation of a smile as it gently patted the mage on the head-like a mother does her child-before guiding the him towards the kid.

To Kurogane's immense revulsion and disgust, the idiot opened his mouth and bit into the cold flesh. He was still crying, soundless sobs shaking his skinny frame but even so, he was swallowing what he had just torn off using his _own_ teeth. It was at that point that the furia left the mage and began dragging the ninja towards the princess. Blood pounded against Kurogane's eardrums as he came to the horrible realization that what had happened to the mage was going to be forced onto him as well. The blond was retching and choking on his own bile where he had fallen, still crying, though murmured whispers of something that sounded like apologies in the magician's native tongue filled the otherwise dreadful silence that seemed to have enveloped Kurogane as his face was shoved into the princess's unmoving body.

**_A/N: I'm horrible, aren't I? Before you start screaming at me though, just remember, I _****did****_ warn you and you didn't listen. So no coming after me with burning pitchforks and pointy torches. Yes, you read that right. I do _****not****_ like the pointy torches because they are all so… pointy. xD''_**

**_On a serious note, Sakura, Syaoran and Mokona are all dead (No Mokonas were actually harmed in the writing of this fic. Mokona used super secret technique number 73 and replaced itself with a replacement dummy when the furia tried to eat it so it's perfectly safe and sound. I'm afraid I can't say the same for the other two though. ) _**

**_So Fai has been force-fed the flesh of his own companion and with Mokona dead there is nothing translating their speech for them. A similar fate awaits Kurogane but will he give in or will he be able to fight the furia off and come up with a brilliant plan to get the two of them out of there? Why do you think the Furia have kept them alive anyways? Drop me a review and tell me what you think~_**


	3. Chapter 3

**_A/N: Same warning as the previous chapters apply. _**

**_Fai is speaking French in this chapter because Mokona is no longer there to translate for them. I used google translate to write his dialogue so they might not all be grammatically correct. I've posted the translations to what he says at the very end of the chapter._**

**_Enjoy the update~_**

Let me stay  
Where the wind will whisper to me,  
Where the raindrops  
As they're falling tell a story

'Imaginary' by Evanescence

Every inch of his body burned with the poison that slowly spread through his veins. He could hear the mage whimpering somewhere nearby. His head spun as his insides churned and twisted and knotted and re-knotted themselves and he dry heaved, his stomach having nothing more to throw up, though it did not seem to stop his body from trying. The mage was mimicking his action nearby, though he was also groaning in pain, curled up in a fetal position with his legs drawn up to his chest as he shuddered.

The furia had left them alone long before. The sun almost seemed to be ready to rise above the horizon by now, but Kurogane's world was enveloped in darkness. He was no different in the end. The princess, he had-

_(Monster! Monster! Monster!)_

He dry heaved once again, trying not to remember the exact details of what had happened (_cooling blood filled his mouth, slipping down his throat, settling in his stomach) _after he had been forced to the princess's flesh. Once the furia had been satisfied by his and the magician's progress, they had been hauled away from the half-eaten carcasses and made to kneel before their leader. The man had turned their heads this way and that, and then, once he was satisfied, had pried their mouths open before forcing his own blood into their bodies. Tired from all the struggling before, Kurogane wasn't able to resist at all, though surprisingly enough the mage had yelled and screamed as though he was being burnt alive when the leader had tried to feed him. Several kicks to the gut and punches to the face later, the furia had managed to get the blond to swallow instead of spitting it out.

_(Weak. You were weak.)_

They left the mage a broken man, lying pathetically in a pool of his own vomit, mixed with the blood of their companions. Time slowly went by, the darkness of the night vanishing as the sun rose through the sky, everything returning to the way it was the previous day…except for the blood and the half-eaten carcasses of the kid and the princess and the tiny, blood-soaked paw of the manju. The magician was still crying softly, murmuring those musical-sounding whispered words of his as his blue eyes remained fixated on the unmoving kids. It was almost hypnotic if he thought about it. He did not even want to move. He just wanted to stay where he was, unmoving, unblinking, not thinking, not feeling, not even wanting to exist. He was the worst of the worst.

The dreamy quality was broken when, with an ear-splitting wail, the mage's body arched off the ground, twisting and turning at the most impossible of angles before he fell back down. When the mage finally stopped screaming, he began to crawl across the floor. Kurogane watched as if from outside his body as the man pushed against the floor with his feet, legs scrabbling to find purchase on the wet (_blood and flesh and bones and bile) _ground, trying to reach Kurogane's sword that lay uselessly a few feet away from him. Dread slowly clawed its way up his throat, forcing the ninja back into his body as he slowly pushed off the ground when the blond met his gaze for a fraction of a second as he reached the sword.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing?"

"Je ne sais pas ... Je ne veux pas vivre comme ça," the blond sobbed as he tried to maneuver the sword's hilt between his chin and his chest, trying to pick it up without success. "Kuro-ta…Kurogane." *

"What do you think my sword will do? The kids are dead and those bastards, they…" he paused, struggling to fight the nausea that bubbled up inside him, "you know what they made us do."

"Je change ... je deviens l'un d'eux et je ... Je ne veux pas devenir comme ça. Ils m'ont fait manger lui et oh mon dieu…" he doubled over, throwing up a mouthful of bile, his skinny back heaving as he gagged at nothing, "S'il te plait…" he looked up, the whites of his eyes nearly red by now as he met the warrior's gaze, "Ne me fais pas vivre comme ça. Je ne peux pas ..." he curled in on himself, "Je ne peux pas devenir comme eux ." Another spasm jolted through the magician's body, an animalistic cry that seemed so out of place coming from his mouth, reverberating all around Kurogane. "Je suis désolé ... Je suis désolé ... Je suis désolé mais je suisé goïste et je ne peux pas ... Je ne veux pas de se transformer en un _Furia_. Tu doit me tuer avant ... avant que la transformation est- aarghhh!" He nearly bent in half backwards, the bones of his spine cracking in a sickening manner as he screamed and screamed and-Kami! He wasn't stopping and then there was a fire consuming him, howls of agony crashing into his skull from all directions and it was only when he was lying on the floor, shuddering, that he realized he had been screaming too.

"S'il vous plait, Kurogane…" the mage whimpered, "tuez-moi. Je ne peux pas vivre comme ça et je suis presque-gaaaahhh!"The idiot banged his head against the floor so hard the crack resounded throughout the room. Kurogane could only watch in horror as fresh blood poured down the blonde's face, though he did not stop trying to bash his brains out.

"Stop it!" Kurogane yelled, staggering across the room to try and grab hold of the deranged man but even he wasn't enough to keep the blond from hurting himself. And then he caught sight of something that made Kurogane's blood run cold. The blue in the magician's eyes was slowly-but steadily-turning into the same burning crimson as those of the furia_._ Was this what he was trying to tell him? That he was changing into one of them? Was that why he was trying to end his life using that sword? It was rather obvious he could not use the sword himself with both his arms broken, so then he must have been…he wanted Kurogane to kill him.

"Tues-moi! Tues-moi! Tuez-moituez-moituez-moituez-moi!" It was the same words over and over and over again, though they were no longer murmurs but crazed snarls as the mage's teeth began to sharpen little by little.

He could not let that happen to him. He could not let the mage turn into one of them. Not even pausing to see what he was about to do, Kurogane grabbed the sword in his uninjured hand and thrust it into his last companion's chest, the cries immediately silenced as the tiniest of trickles of blood flowed down from one side of his parted lips before the man slumped to one side and moved no more. And as Kurogane was trying to come to terms with what he had just done-

_(Murderer! You Murdered him!)_

- the agony of his entire being torn apart, particle by particle, left him screaming and colliding with the walls for the rest of the day as he lost sense of everything around him, his entire world consumed by the absolute pain.

It was as the sun set beyond the horizon, leaving the world back in the accursed clutches of the night, that he finally woke up. He staggered up to his feet, wiping the blood out of his eyes with the back of his hand as he looked around, memories of the past twenty-four hours slowly returning to him, his anger rising with each passing second.

Those bastards had killed the princess and the kid and the manju bun and…And the mage had been turning into one of them and he had begged the warrior to kill him. He had kept on asking for the same thing until…until Kurogane had killed him. But he had been turning into one of them…and the mage was better off dead than becoming one of them. The idiot was too soft-hearted to be able to do what those _things _had done and…yes…yes, he was better as dead then as one of them.

_(Monster! Monster!)_

But they were not supposed to be dead. There was a journey ahead of them. The mage had to keep on running and the kid had to find the princess's feathers and the meat bun had to take him back to Nihon! Those bastards had taken away his one true chance of ever being able to get back home. He was stranded here, and the people he had come to think of as an almost secondary family were dead (_hunger clawing at his insides like a rabid dog) _and he was starving and the air was thick with the scent of their blood. The ancient magic crackled all around him like a web of thousands and thousands of invisible hands, reaching out to caress his face every now and then. He was still alive and himself, even though the furia had tried their best to make him into one of them. But he was stronger than that. He was the mightiest warrior of Nihon. He could never succumb to some stupid curse like that. He was still himself. And he was strong.

_(Liar! You were weak!)_

He had no doubt the furia would return for him tonight. Maybe they had left him alive so that they could toy with him a little more tonight. That was why he was alive and the kids were dead and the manju bun was dead and the mage was…oh, right, he had to kill the mage to stop him from becoming one of them (_Murderer! You killed him!) _but now he was alone. The kid and the princess did not deserve to die the way they had and the meat bun was supposed to be indestructible-Heh, the witch sold him a faulty item! He would have to deal with the witch when he got to her shop again, tell her how her little pet broke down in the worst of all the worlds. But that would come later. For now, he had to prepare for the arrival of the furia_._

He clambered to his feet, surprised that the pain in his knee had vanished somehow. Looking down, he saw that the formerly purple and swollen leg was back to its normal, healthy state, except that it was covered in blood (_crimson pooling around the kid, bathing the princess, gushing from the hole in the mage's chest)_but the skin was whole and healthy. Moving his previously broken arm, he noticed that that, too, was perfectly healed. Huh. That was weird, not that he minded at all. He was uninjured now, which meant he could avenge his companions and then he'd find a way to get out of there and back to Nihon. A wave of darkness swept over him for a moment, and he realized with a jolt that despite his body being in perfect condition, he was still weak and hungry. He had not eaten anything in almost thirty-six hours.

_(Need to eat. Need to get strong.)_

He had to find something to eat. He needed his strength for the night that lay ahead. Ignoring his blood-covered state he wandered around the house, surprised to notice that except for the one room where the carnage had taken place, the rest of the house was immaculately clean, no sign of the events of the previous night visible anywhere. Even the door, which had claw marks all over it the previous day, was perfectly polished and smooth. Ignoring the feeling of unease that enveloped him in its embrace (_monsters lurking in the shadows, lying in wait to come after him)_ he scoured the house, coming to the horrific realization that there was nothing in there to eat. Not wanting to leave his friends alone like that, (_dead, they were dead. No one was alive) _he decided against heading out to hunt for something. After all, there had been no animals around for miles when they had first arrived. He doubted something would have miraculously sprung up in the twenty-four hours he had spent there.

Heaving a sigh, he headed back to the room they had been occupying the last night, the scent of blood hitting him so hard the minute he stepped back inside that he staggered back, head reeling with the overpowering metallic smell. Licking his lips, he shook off the sudden hunger that consumed him almost completely as he stepped back inside, this time more prepared for the assault to his senses. It was like stepping into an entirely different world, the entire room painted crimson with the blood that had been shed. Purposefully striding across the room, he peeked out into the darkness, not finding any signs of the furia, but he knew they would be back. He wasn't stupid. They had left him alive for a reason. Running his fingers through his dirty hair, he closed his eyes for a second to think over what to do. His mouth began to water from hunger the longer he stood there (_Starving. He was starving) _and for the briefest of moments, he pictured the blood that was staining the floor behind him. His eyes snapped open as he gritted his teeth.

_(Monster!)_

Why the heck had he just thought about…he'd been forced to do what he had before but why had he just…no! That was just sick. He wasn't desperate enough to resort to something that animalistic. Maybe if he could move those three someplace easier to defend, he could go look for something to eat outside. Yeah. He could move them someplace safer. Like that windowless room in the back. That would be perfect to keep them safe. He wouldn't let those bastards lay another hand on them.

Nodding to himself, he turned around, his gaze lingering on the blood that had pooled about the mage before he shook himself and purposefully walked over to the kid. He bent down, holding his breath as he picked him up gently in his arms. Kami, his blood smelt so sweet! He tried not to look at the empty ribcage as the brunette's neck hung over his forearm, one of his arms swinging back and forth like a pendulum as he began walking towards the room he had decided on. He knew if he looked down, he'd see the white of the boy's spine showing through the hole in his stomach, the bones peeking through the gouges in his legs where the furia had ripped out the flesh from him.

_(Weak! Too weak to save any of them.)_

Nudging the door open with his shoulder, he set his body on the floor near the wall, wondering why his muscles had not stiffened by now. He was cold as ice, but despite that his body was soft to the touch. He pushed the kid's hair out of his face, feeling a pang of _something _as he noticed the empty hole where one of the brunette's eyes used to be, the skin around the wound scratched and torn. His calloused fingers gently brushed his cheek for a moment before he climbed back to his feet. He had to get the others here before the furia got back. He'd be damned if he let them take any of them from him. (_Mine! Mine! Mine!) _They were his. All three of them. He'd never let them be taken from him.

Ignoring the mage where he lay with his sword still sticking out of his chest, Kurogane scooped up the princess. He took a couple of steps towards the door as his gaze drifted to her exposed heart. What would it feel like? (_Sliding down his throat, all soft and supple and-)_ he dropped the princess with a disgusted cry, his back colliding with the wall as he gazed down at her with wide, panicked eyes.

What the fuck was _wrong_ with him? Had he just imagined eating the princess's heart? That kind, sweet little girl whose smile could light up your world and ease your troubles…How could he have thought of doing something like that to her? Clutching his head, he sank to the floor. It was just the events of last night. He had been forced by the furia to eat her flesh and now his mind was tormenting him with these thoughts. He wasn't really going to eat her heart, after all. No, that would just be too deranged. Of course he wasn't going to do that.

(_Liar! You're a monster!)_

Cautiously, as though expecting the dead girl to suddenly wake up and start screaming accusations at him, he approached her once again, taking great care to pick her up though this time he kept his gaze averted from her body. Which was probably why it was only after he had already taken a couple of steps that he realized that the princess was suddenly missing an arm. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the appendage lying where her body had dropped. The shock of the fall must have caused her muscles to tear. He recalled having bitten into the flesh of her shoulder at some point the previous night. So maybe that was why it had fallen down now.

Retracing his steps, he bent down and picked it up, placing the limb on her torso before moving to the room he had decided on. He laid her next to the kid, wondering why he had tried not to slide their eyes closed. It was a little unnerving to see their glassy eyes staring at him in an accusing manner.

_(Monster! Monster! Monster!)_

"Don't look at me like that." Suddenly feeling defensive, he growled at the kid, "You know I had no choice." And then, without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and strode purposefully back to the room where the mage was. The scent of blood did not hit him as strongly this time as it had before when he stepped inside. But maybe that was due to the fact that the room was slowly cleaning itself up of all traces of carnage, the only blood remaining there now where the mage lay.

He looked around the room, noticing how all the broken furniture was repaired and how the blood was wiped clean and how-how everything was almost completely brand new and untouched. It was like…like the last night had never happened. He gritted his teeth, ignoring the sting as his sharp nails broke the skin of his palms when he clenched his hands, trying not to look at the mage. (_You killed him! Youkilledhimyoukilledhim)_ He had killed the idiot who always used those stupid, annoying nicknames to get a rise out of him. Now he'd never hear his stupid, fake voice again. Never have him stuff another piece of that sweet, sugary shit down his throat-but it had to be done. He was turning into one of them. He was changing and Kurogane knew there was no way the mage could have lived with himself like that. So he had done the mage a favor by killing him. Yeah. He'd done him a favor.

(_Liar. You're a liar.)_

But now, he had to protect all three-no, wait. There was the manju too. So he had to protect all four of them. (_MineMineMine!) _Pulling his sword from the magician's prone body, Kurogane slung the blond over one shoulder, picking up the paw that was left of the meat bun and heading back to where the kids were. Behind him, the blood vanished and the room returned to the state it had been in before.

Stepping inside the room for the last time, Kurogane shut the door behind him and put the mage down next to the kids and the meat bun's paw over his shoulder because that was where that damn thing loved to stay.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe."He muttered, pretending he couldn't see two and a half pairs of dead eyes staring at him. Leaning against the wall, Kurogane slid down to the floor next to the door, sword in hand.

**_A/N: And then there was one. They were supposed to be a single chapter initially but it was just too long compared to the first two chapters so I split it in two parts instead. So can anyone guess what's happening to Kurogane here? Drop me a review and tell me what you think :)_**

**_I'd like to thank Green Sphynx for helping me with the translations. She was also the one to inform me that there are two ways to address say you to someone in French as compared to the simple 'you' that we have in English. Vous is the more formal way of addressing someone and is used for someone older then you, someone of higher station or someone you are not very familiar with and is the more respectful way where as 'tu' is the less formal way and is used between friends or for someone younger than you. Fai is switching between 'Vous' and 'tu' when talking to Kurogane here because he's not exactly in the most coherent of states... Here's the translated text for anyone who's interested._**

_* Je ne sais pas ... Je ne veux pas vivre comme ça, Kuro-ta…Kurogane._

(I don't… I don't want to live like this, Kuro-ta… Kurogane.)

_* Je change ... je deviens l'un d'eux et je ... Je ne veux pas devenir comme ça. Ils m'ont fait manger lui et oh mon dieu… S'il te plait… Ne me fais pas vivre comme ça. Je ne peux pas ... Je ne peux pas devenir comme eux . Je suis désolé ... Je suis désolé ... Je suis désolé mais je suis égoïste et je ne peux pas ... Je ne veux pas de se transformer en un Furia. Tu doit me tuer avant ... avant que la transformation est- aarghhh!_

(I'm changing…I'm turning into one of them and I…I don't want to become like that. They made me eat him and oh, God, Please…Don't make me live like this. I can't…I can't become like them. I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry but I'm selfish and I can't…I don't want to turn into a furia_. _You have to kill me before…before the transformation is- aarghhh!)

_* S'il vous plait, Kurogane… tuez-moi. Je ne peux pas vivre commeçaet je suispresque-gaaaahhh!_

(Please Kurogane…kill me. I can't live like this and I'm almost- gaaaahh!)

_* Tues-moi! Tues-moi! Tuez-moituez-moituez-moituez-moi!_

(Kill me! Kill me! Killmekillmekillmekillme.)


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N: And here is the final chapter. Enjoy the update~_**

Don't say I'm out of touch  
With this rampant chaos - your reality  
I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge  
The nightmare I built my own world to escape

'Imaginary' by Evanescence

The wind howled outside, something scratching against the windowpanes in the corridor outside and Kurogane tensed, clutching the sword a little tighter. In the tiny room, the silence felt almost suffocating and every sound seemed magnified by a hundredfold. It rankled his nerves, making him want to grind his teeth but Kurogane was a trained warrior. An assassin, (_Murderer!), _he had spent half his life learning how to hide and blend in with the shadows, to disappear within the silence and make sure no one knew he was there when he did not want them to. This was just another job like that. He would diligently guard his companions while they rested and make sure no one got in. He would not let the others take away what was his.

_(All mine!)_

The wind howled and the sweet scent of blood flittered to his nose. Someone was right outside. Slowing his breath down, Kurogane got to his feet, making sure to keep his movements as noiseless as possible as he readied his sword and flashed out the door. Without giving the other a chance to react, he thrust his sword into their throat, choking back a scream as Tomoyo's startled eyes met his gaze, blood leaking from the side of her mouth before a gust of wind blew and took her away, leaving him paralyzed where he stood, staring at the spot where he had killed his Princess. (_Killed her like you killed him! Like you killed them all! Monster!) _Shaking his head, he tried to see if there was any sign of her having been there. The house vanished things on its own…was it possible that Tomoyo had…vanished?

Hearing a new noise coming from inside the room, he raced back, cursing himself for letting someone slip past him to where _they_ were. He froze at the entrance, though. No one was there except the kid and the princess and the mage and the manju. They were all just lying there on the ground. Not blinking, not speaking, not moving. Why were they not moving? Oh, right…they were dead (_because you killed them)._ Swallowing a howl, he returned to his diligent watch, trying to ignore the hunger gnawing at his insides.

The sweet, seductive scent of their blood was beginning to condense rather heavily in the air and it was becoming harder and harder for him to keep himself from being distracted by it. He could feel their lingering magic without even having to look. It was strange to find how the kid had probably had the most magic out of all of them. Or rather…the most magic was still there in his body, in comparison to the others. The mage's was completely gone, and of the princess's only a little bit remained behind but the kid… the kid _was _magic. He was like a bright beacon against a dreary dark sky. Why had the kid never used this magic? It would have come in mighty useful when they were having their asses kicked by the others.

He heard something howl outside, then whispered words spoken in a soft musical voice that he never thought could belong to a human-but it belonged to the mage, didn't it? With the manju translating for them all through the journey, he had never actually realized how different the blonde's language was from his own. He heard the princess murmur something in an equally soft manner. Turning back, he thought he caught a flash of the edge of the kid's cloak vanishing through the door that led to the library.

"Kid?" Calling out, he followed after the brunette. The library was bathed in blood, torn limbs strewn all over the floor, skulls and skeletons and ripped flesh and _(You let this happen!)_- he blinked and there was nothing there. Taking his face in his hands, Kurogane pressed his fingers against his closed lids, groaning tiredly as stars exploded in his vision. He was losing his mind. There was no one here. They were all back in that room because the furia had killed them and he had been too powerless to protect anyone. (_Weak and pathetic. Couldn't protect anyone.) _He had been too weak and helpless and they had forced him to do unspeakable things and now…now he had no one left.

_"SAKURA!"_ the kid's scream was making him tear through the house to where he had left the others. They were in no state to defend themselves. He had to keep them safe! How could he have left them there when they could not even move?! He should have known better than to wander off. What if _they_ came back and he wasn't there? What if those three were stolen from him? (_Mine!)_ He was panting by the time he got to the doorway. Even if it had not been that long a run, he wasn't as strong as he usually was. He had lost a lot of blood…hadn't he? (_Weakling)_There had been no stains in the library and there were no injuries on his body, but…he could not have just imagined it all, could he? Maybe it had all just been a crazy nightmare and the kids and the mage and the manju were just resting. They couldn't be…they couldn't be just _dead._

But it was too quiet in that room where they lay. Why was it so quiet? The silence was getting on his nerves. The mage was looking at him, so there was no way in hell he was sleeping. So then why had he gone on for the past several hours without even uttering a single word? The idiot was one of the few people who never _shut up!_ And the manju…where the heck was the stupid manju? The stupid thing was always bouncing off the walls. It wasn't sleeping with the princess, because one of her arms lay on her chest and the other was on the ground and the dimension hopper was not cuddling her at all. _(It's too quiet.)_ How could they stand this silence when it was nearly driving him insane? How could they just sleep like that when _he_ was the one who was weak and hungry and the stupid bastard was just lying there, staring at him unblinkingly with blood smeared all over his face and torn clothes.

_(Monster! You killed him!)_

"Quit looking at me like that, Mage." He growled, "What's wrong with you anyways? Did the cat finally rip out your tongue?" There was no reply and Kurogane felt a surge of irritation wash over him. The bastard was going to ignore him now, was he? Angrily throwing his sword down, Kurogane stalked up to the blond. Grabbing a fistful of his shirt, (_it was nothing but tatters. Claws slashing through the air, turning it to ribbons. Too weak to save anyone. Too weak to do anything but watch.) _he pulled the blond off the ground, glowering at the man who still refused to speak, "Why the fuck are you not chattering my ears off, you bastard?"

Empty blue (_almost grey now)_ eyes stared back at him and he felt something inside him shatter as he let go, the mage falling back gracelessly with a dull thud that might as well have been an earth-shattering thunderclap in the silence. He returned to his post by the door, lethargically picking up the sword as he settled by the wall for the rest of the night.

(_So tired. So weak. So… hungry…)_

His head nearly drooped onto his chest as another wave of darkness flushed over him, his insides screaming at the emptiness. He had no idea when or how but at some point, he fell asleep again. When he woke up, he was towering over a scared looking kid, his brown eyes wide in fear as he soundlessly kept on mouthing the warrior's name. Grinning ferally, he slammed the brunette into the wall, not even waiting for his startled cry to subside before throwing himself upon him, mouth latching on to the younger male's shoulder, tearing out a sizeable chunk of flesh as warm, _warm_ blood flowed down his chin. He pulled away. The scream that issued from his victim's mouth belonged to the mage, betrayed blue-eyes questioning him as to why he was doing this to him. The mage tried to push him away, but hunger gave the ninja the strength he needed to snap the bones in both arms, his grin widening almost impossibly when he saw the jagged white pushing through the skin as the magician's screams joined the musical symphony of the kid's cries. He bit into his flesh, licking his lips as he drew back for a second time, the princess sobbing brokenly in his arms, her torso nothing but torn flesh and half-eaten organs.

(_Backstabbing monster! They trusted you to protect them but you let them die.)_

"No!" He shot up with a yell, panting hard as he looked around, the scent of blood once again heavy in the air. Dried blood flaked off his face as he scrubbed at it with the palms of his hands.

"Just a stupid dream. It was just a stupid dream." He mumbled, trying to clean as much of the rust-coloured substance as possible. The hunger was almost impossible for him to ignore by now and he stumbled a couple of steps when he finally climbed to his feet. Leaning heavily against the doorframe, he realized that Souhi felt too heavy for him to lift. He was too weak. Too weak to do anything at all. And now he was starving and dying and soon, there would be no one to protect them.

(_Mineminemineminemine!)_ Despite himself, he slipped to the ground, still using the doorframe as support to keep him upright.

He needed his strength, but there was nothing alive around for miles. Not a single living soul and it would be impossible to kill a furia because they were immortal. But he'd be powerless against them when they returned-because they _would_ return for him-and then they'd steal what was his and he-

"You could beat them back, Kurogane-san." The kid said as he walked up to him. His eyes were hollow, one eye-socket empty and bloody, flesh missing in great chunks from his throat, shoulders and stomach.

"Can't." he grunted back in defeat, "I'm too weak. Lost too much blood fighting the furia and I haven't eaten in two days. There's nothing to eat."

"That's not true." The mage drawled, leaning against the window in the corridor. "You know there's food right here. And you need your strength."

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" he glowered. "There is no way that I-"

"That you what?" the blond cut in with a challenging quirk of his brow. "That you won't do what you have to? You're a survivor. You're the _only_ survivor. I'm not the one that's out of my mind here, Kurogane."

"It's me…" laughter bubbled up inside him, spilling from his lips in a sound strange and alien as doubled over. "I'm the one losing my mind."

"You only just figured it out, Kurogane-san?" the kid quipped. "You know what you have to do."

"No…I won't…"

"It's not like you haven't done it already," the princess accused as she sat in front of him, her heart hanging precariously from a single vein, blood slowly trickling down her barely clothed body. "You can't deny what you did, Kurogane-san."

"Wasn't me." He replied with a shake of his head, "I didn't do anything."

"Exactly!" the mage exclaimed hungrily, "you didn't do anything. You knew we couldn't have fought them off and yet you only watched us die."

"No, that's not true." He protested weakly.

"Isn't it?" the blond challenged. "You could have kept us alive but you didn't. You even killed _me. _I was still alive, wasn't I? Why did you kill me, Kurogane?"

"I didn't… You-you asked me to!"

"So?" the mage said nonchalantly, "Doesn't change the fact that I'm still dead because of you."

"And it doesn't change the fact that the furia are still going to come back." The kid added.

"And you'll be too weak to keep us safe." The princess taunted in a way he had never heard the girl speak when she was alive.

"No! I'll keep you safe." He tried to climb to his feet but failed, "I'll protect you all."

"In the state you're in?" the kid scoffed, crossing his arms across his chest, the blood sluggishly trailing down his legs and creating a shallow puddle around his feet. "I seriously doubt you'd be able to even lift your sword."

"I won't let them take you." He swore, using the sword like a crutch as he finally stood up.

(_Minemineminemine!)_

"But you're too weak." The mage pointed out. "You won't be able to beat them."

"I-I…"

"You know what you have to do, Kurogane-san." The kid told him, his body beginning to melt into the crimson liquid that seeped from every pore and opening of his body.

"You need to get stronger." The princess said, reaching for his hand. "You need to protect us."

"You failed to keep us alive, but you can still protect us, right?" The bones bathed in blood where the kid used to be asked.

_(Weak… Starving… Dying…)_

"You know it's not of any use to us anymore." The mage breathed in his ear, stepping away with a grin that split his face in two, crimson bubbling from every wound as he looked at him.

"I can't… Not to you…" the ninja murmured, leaning heavily against his sword for support even as the princess took hold of his free hand with her melting fingers and began to lead him away from the door.

"It's not like you haven't done it already, Kurogane-san," the princess cajoled, "just look at what you did to my arm."

(_Monster!)_

"You did what you had to do, Kurogane." The blond spoke, his voice hard and unyielding, "and you will do it again. You want to protect us, don't you?"

"I do." He agreed.

"Then what are you waiting for?" He too began to melt into the rusty liquid. "The furia won't stay away forever."

Kurogane stumbled and ended up falling on his face, right next to the unmoving princess with her torn arm and the mage with the sword wound in his chest. Shaking his head to try and get rid of the wave of weakness that left him panting for breath, he tried to sit up. Glassy eyes looked up at him but unlike before, Kurogane could not see the accusations in their stares. They were just…empty. He knew it would not be long before the furia were back for them all…and they had been right. He was in no state to protect the others. Heck, he wasn't even strong enough to stand. He needed to strength to beat them back. He could not let them be taken away from him. Not when he had failed to keep them alive.

No.

He knew what he had to do. It was like the princess had said. He was the survivor. So, he would do what he had to to survive. No matter what, he would be keeping them with him. The furia would never take them away from him. He would make sure of that. Finally giving in to the hunger that had been plaguing him ever since he had first woken up, he reached out with clawed hands towards the blond.

**_A/N: And this my friends is truly the end. Drop me a review and tell me what you thought ;)_**


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